On Wednesday, September 20 the annual State of the Student Body Address was held to discuss current and upcoming initiatives at Florida State University.

Florida State University's student body president Kyle Hill commemorated past achievements, which included lobbying for a new Black Student Union and creating engineering work stations for main campus. He also recognized campus-wide accomplishments such as the Raise the Torch campaign, which raised nearly one billion dollars for FSU academics.

As Hill and Vice President Stacey Pierre promised in their campaign, their work has been motivated by innovation, collaboration and integrity. Student government workers and members have already collaborated with leaders across the university to participate in a community service project to aid Hurricane Irma victims.

Working with the Provost Office, SGA hopes to help freshmen students find their home at FSU with the new Engage 100 initiative, which soft-launched this summer during orientation. This year, Florida State was able to accept the “best incoming class of freshmen in [the] university’s history,” and with this new campaign, incoming Seminoles will now have more opportunities to bring their talents to the FSU community beyond academics.

With the help of Pierre’s leadership, FSU students can also anticipate new strides towards destigmatizing the conversation around mental health and advocating for the established mental health organizations on campus via a soon-to-launch campaign.

Hill noted that not every aspect of the SGA’s work is glamorous, but with the small things done right, “administration will respect student leaders and that way they will respect the student body.”

With a full agenda of campaigns on the way, the State of the Union Address reminded students of their essential role as well.

“It is our belief that Student Government should work for you,” Hill said during his speech. He praised the press secretary, Edgar Barrios, for keeping SGA’s social media accounts active, stating that they keep students connected.

Upon concluding the speech, Hill noted objectives on his personal agenda, including advocating for study days for exam weeks. On our ten-spot jump in national public university ranking, Hill owed our success to FSU President John Thrasher.

“Interacting with him on a monthly and weekly basis has made me realize that his leadership, his vision and the way he interacts with alumni and staff make people want to follow him. That is helping our reputation and reputation is a large part of those rankings,” Hill explained.

From this year’s State of the Student Body Address, it is clear that SGA is inspired and motivated by new students, established university organizations and President Thrasher himself. With organizations like SGA already putting their words in action, there is no telling what Florida State cannot accomplish.

To get involved or stay up to date with SGA, students can follow them on Twitter @FSUSGA or visit sga.fsu.edu.